AndroidLost and gps

[jc0187]

If my phone gets stolen, I have AndroidLost to use in order to wipe my phone so no one cracks my passwords. Do I have to have gps turned on in order for this service to work? My gps is always pinging my phone and using battery juice up. Thanks.

 

[Darnell0216]

Your account should be provisioned with Android Device Manager by now. You don't need any 3rd party apps for simple track, lock, and wipe. I haven't tested it with ADM, but most need GPS enabled already. Otherwise it's down to the nearest cell tower, which is usually no help. If it's draining your battery that badly, the app is poorly coded and should be uninstalled anyway . The best trackers have little to no affect on battery life. You're lucky if you even see them register on the battery usage meter.

 

[jc0187]

Im not sure its AndroidLost causing the gps to ping my phone od not. Is there a way to find out? Also, the android device manager needs to do a system restore before the app can use the wipe function. And I really really dont want to do that. I usdd AndroidLost on my n4 and hadn't had any issues with the gps thing.

 

[Darnell0216]

First I've heard of that. If I may inquire, why does it need a system restore?

I don't know if there are any snoop apps that can tell you what's making GPS calls. I know which apps need GPS on my phone and none of them cause regular polling when not in use. Even my weather app is set to one Home location and not "track me". Hopefully you can get it resolved without uninstalling each app to see which one is at fault.

 

[jc0187]

Well the wipe option on the device manager website is greyd out. The instructions say that the phone needs a factory reset in order to activate the wipe function for future use.

 

[Darnell0216]

Well the wipe option on the device manager website is greyd out. The instructions say that the phone needs a factory reset in order to activate the wipe function for future use.

I think you misread the instructions. If you're seeing what I'm looking at on my wife's ADM portal, you haven't given ADM "permission" to factory reset. You can't remote wipe or lock your phone without an app being given this permission. Go to the Google Settings app and enable the option. Additionally, go to Settings -> More -> Security -> Device Administrators and check the box for ADM. The option should then become active for remote wiping via the website.